12 years ago, 500 people turned out for the creation of Decatur’s 2000 Strategic Plan. As Decatur Mayor Bill Floyd noted at last night’s Strategic Plan Kick-Off meeting, “controversy” was Decatur’s greatest asset in 1998. There was a lot of unfocused energy that needed directing.

Decatur in 2010 is in a very different place, thanks in large part to that 2000 plan. While controversies still pop-up requiring serious consideration – and the occasional heated argument – in large part, the fruits of decade-old labor is a present-day citizenry, both content and proud of their community.

And often times, contentment breed’s laziness. Not here.

Over 80% of the tasks in the 2000 Strategic Plan have either been completed, are planned for completion, or were followed through to their natural conclusion. And I’m not just parroting the city when I say that. I sat down with them and went through the 2000 plan line-by-line a couple weeks ago.

With so many tasks completed, what’s left to do? That’s what the smaller groups will begin discussing in a couple weeks. You can still sign up.

Excellent kickoff and excellent example of inclusiveness and responsiveness in city government. While occasional bubbling fury does pop up in Decatur discussions, we are unusual in our ability to develop productive consensus. Stable, intelligent, non-defensive leadership in City Hall seems to be key. I think this style of leadership would fit well in CSD as well. It already has stable and intelligent down pat, at least compared to other school systems; now it has to work on non-defensive, inclusive, and responsive. CSD 101 and a growing role of SLTs are good signs.

It was essentially a “rah-rah” event where speakers talked about how great Decatur is and everything that has been accomplished.

Honestly there really was not that much to “report” beyond the incredible participation rate and Mayor Floyd’s joke about a bottomless bathtub.

Also, the reoccurring thought that seemed to be on everyone’s mind, which I referenced above, is that Decatur is a very different place than just 10 years ago. Does that mean a very different strategic plan or just a refocused version from 2000? No one actually knows.

I think it would be very instructive if we could see that “line-by-line” review of the list from 10 years ago to see what was NOT done. I imagine that the incomplete items would fall into categories such as “impossible,” “lack of funding,” “silly idea to begin with.” The point is that there is something to be learned going forward about the things that were not done in the past, and I would love to see those items culled from the original list in an easily referenced document. Might some of them be revisited? Were any of them still worthy of merit?